What is the Best Tent for Burning Man Festival
There’s more than one way to pitch at tent on The Playa. Depending on your style, budget, and personal needs there are a lot of ways to make a shelter to sleep in at Burning Man. I really enjoy not staying in an RV. The tent camping makes me feel like a kid again. Some camps and innovators take the idea to the extreme making amazing out of this world shelters.
Lots of self expression and customization goes into a good shelter. It’s so much fun to do. Here are some tips to help you in the process of deciding what kind of shelter to choose.
No matter what type of structure you are building there are some important added factors to consider. Wind, Sun, Dust & Safety
It’s not uncommon to see someone’s tent flying out of a camp and down the street. The wind will blow your tent away, if you are not careful. Here are some tips to keeping your tent grounded. Using good ropes, rebar and tent placement are key factors for tent flight.
Regular Tent Stakes Do Not Work!
Camp Planning
Use RVs, Cars and other Camp structures to make walls around your tents to protect against the wind.Here we see in the image below how the tents are well protected from the elements with good planning.
Tent Stakes & Screws For Burning Man
Rebar Stakes (Old School)
The old school favorite is to use rebar for your tent. Make sure to bring a mallet to hammer them in the ground. Hopefully someone has a stake puller you can borrow to get them out again, if they don’t bend. These things really cause a lot of injuries. Rebar Safety 101 Safety Tips for more info.
Over the years people have developed various tools and techniques to help drive the rebar into the concrete hard playa. Getting them out is another issue all together. Here are a couple videos demonstrating fast ways of putting rebar in and removing it out again. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE TENT STAKES AND REBAR. IT’S MOOP!
Lag Screws
These new tent stakes were developed by FIGJAM. They are great because they sit flush to the ground, don’t cost as much headache or cost as rebar does, and are cheaper! If you like empaling your foot on rebar, by all means stick with it, but lag screws are a much better alternative. Buy on Amazon
Custom Lag Screw
There are different variations of the Lag Screw, here is another How To Guide to check out. Learn How
Sand Stakes
These stakes were designed for holding tents in snow and sand. I’ve used them in the mountains on snow and many times at the burn. Place the rope through one of the middle wholes and drive it down through the ground. Add some water after to really make it solid. Buy on Amazon
Tent Safety Tips
It really sucks when you are walking at night in lost and disoriented between camps, and you hit your foot or worse on some rebar. I’ve seen more than once someone getting empaled on a piece of rebar holding up a structure. Blood is not MOOP you wanna clean up ever. So to make sure that doesn’t happen, follow these Tent Safety Tips, or check out more Rebar Safety Tips
- Place a tennis ball or pool noodle on the ends of your rebar and tape them off so no one gets hurt.
- Use glow in the dark gaffer or Solar LED lights along your tent lines so you don’t trip over them at night.
- Place tarps down before you pitch your tent, just in case it rains. Yes it rains sometimes at Burning Man, and the mud is killer slip and slide.
SHADE SHADE SHADE
When the sun comes up, it’s a natural early morning wakeup call. It gets REALLY HOT. On the contrary at night it can get REALLY COLD. A good sleeping bag, blanket or warm cuddly body can help against the cold. Only a good shade structure can help against the heat of the day. There are as many shade structure designs as there are tent designs, but here are a few good links to help you figure it out.
Munkehut by Joshua Shessel
Looking for some easy instructions to building your shade structure with pvc? Check out these wonderfully designed / ikea style how to build a shade structure for your burn. Really, even a sparkle pony could do it with this guide.
BlackRock Harware
These have to be the best shade structures you can get for the price. Designed by burners for maximum strength, shade and stability. At our camp we have different colors to create a nice effect. Buy a Kit
Tightshade Kit
Anne sells a similar shade kit. Take it from this veteran Burner who has been out in the dust longer than most people have gone to school. Free pickup if you are in Oregon! Tightshade Kit
Carport-style structure
A simple and easy to setup shade structure that can also be used for a kitchen, dining area, whatever is the Carport Canvas Structure. Costco sells a very popular 10' x 20' carport. There are a bunch on Amazon and Ebay as well. Make sure to place down the right Guy Wires to keep it in place with the Winds. Buy Online
Shade Cloths
A popular material for shade structures is Aluminet. It’s of high grade reflective meshing that really cuts down on the sun, but doesn’t fly away with the wind. The other alternative is Shade Cloth which is cheaper, but of course others say more inferior.
Buy Aluminet Online
Buy Shade Cloth Online
Emergency Blanket Shade Hack
There are lots of different ways to keep your tent cool. Burningtribe has a simple hack to use reflective sheets in your tent as a shade structure. This is handy if you are going solo, or don’t have a lot of room to carry large shade structures. Read Guide
Tarps
Tarps are very handy to have at the burn. Place them under your car to make sure you don’t drip oil on the playa. Place under your old carpet to cut down on MOOP. Use it to make a shade structure to keep your campsite cool. There are many uses for tarps at your camp. Buy on Amazon
Protect Your Tent From Dust
Before getting a tent, make sure it can close off completely to the outside. Lots of these large family tents that you may buy at walmart have huge screen windows that the dust just covers everything inside. Do you like sleeping on a dusty ground? Well that’s what your bed will feel like in one of these tents. Make sure you can close off all the vents, and use a cover sheet during the day to protect your bed against any residual dust. A small dustpan and brush is also very useful to keeping the dust down inside your shelter.
Ebony gives a tour of her tent. She is super organized and clean, and shows some nice tips to keeping a tight tent.
Ebony on Facebook
Types Of Tents
There are a lot of different styles, types, sizes and design of tent structures, but here are some of our favorites. Whatever your choice of structure is, remember these wise words from Eric.
Nobody should ever bring a structure to the playa that they haven’t already practiced setting up at home… preferably multiple times, in the dark, with one hand tied behind their back and another holding a beer.
Geodesic Domes
Everywhere you look there is a Geodome at Burning Man. The design by Buckminster Fuller is very popular due to it’s durable design, minimal material costs and adaptability. You can make them large or small just by changing the length of your poles. There are numerous DIY guides and Kits available to build your own. If you have more cash, and less patience you can also buy made to order domes, or check ebay and craigslist for someone selling one.
Yurts
These portable shelters were used by the nomads in the steppes of Central Asia thousands of years ago. There strength and portability makes this a design that is still being used today.
Campingyurts.com
Campingyurts.com has a number of Yurts for rental, How To Guides & Videos, Build Your Own Kits and is a great resource if you want to know more about Yurts.
Himalaya Bell Yurt
This Canvas 8–12 Person is for the Glampers. Large space designed to accommodate a dozen people sitting around. Contracted support structure make it simple and convenient to build, and ensure the stability and firm of the tent.
Yurt Tent
This is a lighter version of the Yurt Tent made by Ozark Trail. Much easier to setup, better for a smaller group. It’s important that the screens stay closed for the dust. It says 8 person, but really it’s 4 person tent. Unless you are sleeping on top of each other, which is possible.
Buy On Amazon
Hexayurt
Designed by former burners, this low cost solution really can handle the elements. Designing one yourself you can adapt the size and dimensions to make it unique and fit your needs.
How To Guide
Tents and Pods
There are a number of Tents you can get that are not the standard version, and mesh nicely with the other strange shelters. We have selected a few which we have tested ourselves.
Shift Pod Designed by Burners
After spending years attending the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, where campers bake under the sun for days, one inventor had an idea. A tent that was made for Burning Man. The Shift Pod Was Born!
Learn More
Modern Tepee
This tepee tent has served us well for many years. You can easily stand in the middle, it’s easy to setup and sturdy against the elements. It can be difficult to put under a shade structure because of the height.
Buy On Amazon
Back of the truck
If you already have a truck you can always put a tent extension on the back. It’s not going to fly away, and you are off the dusty ground. Best for solo acts or couples as the space is a cozy, and no standing up.
Buy on Amazon
There are a bunch of extra tools and gear that can make your Tent Life a little more sturdy. Bungee Cords, Ratchet Straps, Zip Ties and the like are handy to have extra when putting up your shade structure or shelter.
Looking for more information?
Have a look at these other articles and papers written by other burners. Many were used as a resource for this article.
Cap Ron’s Shelter Captian’s Log
Lots of handy info about shade, tents, RVs and more.
Burning Tribe
Another resource with handy tips on tents, shade structures and insulation techniques.
Burn.Life
For more tent tips check out Burn.Life’s Tent article. It’s also packed with many tips and resource links.
Every time I go back I love walking around the camps to see the different innovations people have done. It would not surprise me to see some Burning Man Shelter Sturcture Project be used in space exploration. It’s already being used for disaster relief. Maybe you will come up with the next great design?
It’s important to have a good place to sleep and collect yourself. The Burn is such a sensory overload for many, a place to relax is often the difference for many people between a great and awful burn. Be radically self-reliant and Radically Expressive in your Home at Home Design.
Originally published at www.burningmanguides.com.
